


wrong turn on the way to normal

by bendingwind



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-18
Updated: 2011-06-18
Packaged: 2017-11-06 00:17:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bendingwind/pseuds/bendingwind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The TARDIS always takes them where they need to go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	wrong turn on the way to normal

_He finds himself sitting at the table of their flat, a hatefully sunny day pouring through the window and glinting off the curls of River Song. Melody. His daughter. She holds Amy’s hand in her own, and the quiet desperation in her eyes is entirely alien to the River that Rory knows._

_“I don’t understand,” Amy says, for perhaps the fifth time._

_“You don’t… you won’t find me until I’m older,” River explains, as gently as possible. Amy tugs her hand away with a scowl. “I was ten years old before the Doctor was able to rescue me and finally bring me home. I didn’t have you, either of you, growing up.”_

_“But why can’t he—” Amy demands, only Rory loses her words to the sudden crashing realization that_ he should have known.

The thing about the TARDIS is that it likes to change the location of bits of its interior without warning, and it has a certain tendency to assume that it knows best. It’s got a thing for _taking people where they need to go._

Rory once found himself in a room off a previously empty corridor, a neat little bedroom that he realized almost instantly must belong to River. It was sparsely furnished with a bed and a vanity made from pale wood, and painted in a cheery yellow. There were no pictures, nothing personal aside from a clutter of objects on a corner of the vanity. Rory’s curiosity got the better of him, and he moved over to study the kinds of things that River Song might collect. There was a ribbon and a badly chipped marble, like keepsakes from someone’s childhood, only he couldn’t imagine River having the sort of childhood that involved ribbons or marbles. There was a chip that he recognized as a projector for images, but he didn’t know how to operate it and frankly he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what sorts of images River might keep around. There was a small silk pouch that, when opened, revealed a simple golden ring. Rory wondered if it was a wedding ring, and if it was, whether it belonged to River or the Doctor or to someone else entirely. He found a pearl that swirled blue and purple when he picked it up, and an antique hairbrush made from silver. There was the folded label of a bottle of wine that claimed to be the best in the universe, which made Rory chuckle. He caught a glimpse of other objects—a bit of lace, a necklace with a diamond—in a slightly-open drawer, and suddenly his invasion of her privacy caught up with him. Embarrassed, he turned to leave.

There was a nightstand beside her bed that he hadn’t noticed before. On it sat a bear, a tacky little stuffed animal that he had picked up for her in a petrol station off I-35 when she mentioned that it was her birthday during The Three Months Rory Williams Tried To Forget. He’d thought she’d lost it or thrown it away when he wasn’t looking, honestly, but here it sat, months later, in a place of honor. She’d added a scarlet silk ribbon around its neck.

Rory was, quite frankly, uncomfortable with this. He decided that she probably had had a very deprived childhood and fled the room as quickly as he could manage.

_Amy’s anger has escalated and she is shouting now, accusing River of lying and worse. She’s risen to her feet, arms planted firmly on the stable as she stares River down. Rory grabs Amy’s arm with perhaps a little more pressure than necessary._

“Amy,” he says, and she freezes. He has always been the only person who could get through to her when she lost her temper. “Amy, she’s not lying, and it’s not her fault. Sit down, please.”

River shoots him a grateful look, and Rory flinches.

“Please,” he says, and for once he does not care that he sounds desperate, “Please tell us what happened to our daughter… to you.”

* * *


End file.
